


His Biggest Regret

by RichardGraysonPercyJackson



Series: The Acrobat and The Mercenary [77]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Comfort, Domestic, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Mirage discussed, feel better, implied kinky business
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24860254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RichardGraysonPercyJackson/pseuds/RichardGraysonPercyJackson
Summary: Dick asks Slade what his biggest regret is and Slade tells him something someone should have told him a long time ago.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson
Series: The Acrobat and The Mercenary [77]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1323779
Comments: 20
Kudos: 217





	His Biggest Regret

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all were pissed at Slade's comment in my last short I posted (the tainted comment in whatever that short was called, I don't remember) so I made him apologize. sort of. Regret it, anyway.

“Do you have any regrets?”

It took Slade a few moments to reply, continuing to read and card his fingers through the acrobat’s hair where Dick was laying on his back on the couch with his head in Slade’s lap, idly flicking through the muted TV channels.

“Some, I suppose,” Slade finally replied. “Not many in comparison to the average person, of that I know.”

“What sort of regrets are they?” Dick asked, looking up at Slade who hadn’t taken his gaze off his book but wasn’t actively reading anymore.

Slade inhaled slowly, thinking as he put his book aside to give Dick his full attention.

“Most of them involve you, actually.”

Dick frowned. “Oh.”

“I don’t regret our relationship,” Slade gently explained. “I don’t regret our marriage.”

“Then what did you mean by they involve me?”

Slade sighed. “There are things I have said, either to you or around you or in passing that were, in hindsight, cold and insensitive.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve made comments off handedly and in an intentionally joking manner that, now that I know about Flores and Mirage, were unkind.”

“Oh, Slade-”

“I didn’t know about them when I made those comments but that doesn’t excuse what I said and doesn’t excuse that I ignored your outward symptoms of distress for something else,” the mercenary went on. “I understand that to someone who knows what you have eben through, they were cruel but I had never intended them that way.”

“Slade, I-I don’t mind,” Dick quickly soothed, sitting up to lean against Slade. “You didn’t know.”

“They hurt you.”

“That’s my problem for being too sensitive.”

“Kid, don’t do this,” Slade said with a sigh.

Dick frowned. “Don’t do what?”

“Slip into the same mindset you had after Mirage,” Slade explained gently. “Don’t put this on yourself, don’t act like it’s your fault.”

“Yeah, but-”

“You cannot stop your natural response to reminders of your trauma so don’t act like it’s your fault for reacting accurately.”

The two stared each other down until Dick mumbled, “But if I had just-”

“If Batman was taken advantage of, should he have seen it coming?” Slade aksed, cutting his husband off. “Should he have looked closer, done beeter, suspected?”

“No! Of course not!”

“What if a shapeshifter took the form of Catwoman and slept with him after acting otherwise exactly the same? Should he have stopped and asked himself if that was really her?”

“No, he couldn’t have had any way to know!”

“Then why is it different for you?” Slade asked, softening his tone. “Why should it be your fault that this happened? Why should you have to be constantly vigilant to everyone around you if even Batman could fall prey to the same thing?”

“Because...w-well because…” Dick searched wildly for a reason and Slade let him, knowing he’d always have a reply to shoot it down. “Because I was the first Robin. I’m supposed to be better.”

“Better than Batman?”

“W-well…” he sighed. “No.”

“No,” Slade agreed. “So why?”

Dick shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“I know what your friends said to you, after Mirage,” Slade said calmly as he tugged Dick into his side. “I know they said it was your fault. But do you know why they said it?”

“Because it’s true?”

“Because your assaulter said you slept with her willingly, aware she as herself,” Slade corrected. “She came out as herself and declared that the two of you had had sex. That you had knowingly had sex with her and not your girlfriend.”

“She lied to them.”

“She did,” Slade agreed.

“Why would they believe her over me?”

“How old were you when it happened? Sixteen, seventeen?”

“Fifteen.”

“Exactly. Kids at that age are stupid and romance at that age is even worse. Your friends and your girlfriend weren’t thinking rationally, they weren’t thinking as heroes. They weren’t thinking as Red Arrow and Starfire and Beast Boy. They were thinking as Roy Harper and Koriand’r and Garfield.”

“How do you know who-”

“The point is they were thinking as civilians, not as heroes,” Slade cut in. “The thing about Wayne’s batbrood is that you’ve all been conditioned to  _ always _ think in vigilante mode which is why it’s hard to understand why it was different to your friends. But emotions and hormones can overrule conditioning and training and vigilante mode which is why you didn’t notice that it wasn’t your girlfriend.”

Dick was quiet for a long time, thinking and processing before mumbling, “You’re the only person who’s ever defended me about it.”

“Todd hasn’t?”

“Well I didn’t even know Jason  _ knew _ about it until you said he told you,”

“Unsurprising, he doesn’t do well with emotions.”

“Says the guy who’s ready to throw hands with the neighbor every damn time he steps out into the hall.”

“Roger is childish and nosy and he needs to learn to mind his own business.”

“Right, sure.”

Slade rolled his eye.

…………………………………………

“Thank you for what you said earlier,” Dick said later that night at dinner, out of the blue and startling - he’d never admit it - Slade who had been enjoying the customarily silent meal. “I needed to hear that, I think.”

“You’re welcome, little bird.”

Dick smiled. “I’ll race you to Wayne Industries tonight.”

Slade chuckled. “And what do I get when I win?”

“Me in whatever position or kinky bondage you want when patrol is over?”

Slade hummed. “Well, I hope you can hold a bridge position for at least two hours.”

Dick grinned brightly. “I’m looking forward to this already. In fact, I’m looking forward to it so much I might even let you win.”

Slade chuckled. “As if you even had a chance of beating me.”

“Oh, it’s on now!”

The two laughed.

At the end of the night, they did find out that Dick could hold the pose for a solid three hours.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know your thoughts


End file.
